Jeff Corwin, nature conservationist and host of ABC's Ocean Mysteries, caught a 14- by 8-foot pregnant stingray in Thailand recently.
"It was an incredible moment of adventure and science," Corwin told USA TODAY Network. "Multiple people were on the rod and reel trying to pull this monster in," he said, adding that it took two hours to secure the fish.
The stingray, caught on March 6, weighed between 600 to 800 pounds and may set a world record, he said.
Corwin was on location filming an upcoming episode of Ocean Mysteries along with veterinarian Nantarika Chansue, an expert on stingrays who has been studying them in the region.
An embedded microchip in the stingray revealed that Chansue had caught the same animal six years prior, according to Corwin.
"Thailand is a beautiful place. A paradise. A wonderful place to come and discover. But it is not unique in problems like waste and plastic and litter," he said. Finding that the stingray had lived six more years and was now pregnant was hopeful, he said.
"She tells us that there's hope for conservation despite living an uncertain world because of pollution and habitat loss," he said.
After measuring the animal and inserting a transmitter in order to track it, the group released it back into the water.
Whether their catch breaks a world record has not been confirmed. A spokesperson from Guinness World Records told USA TODAY Network in an e-mail that the current record holder is a Mekong giant catfish.
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